The invention relates to a drawer side wall of metal, in particular of aluminum, comprising a vertical flange forming the lateral limitation of a drawer, a lower fastening flange for a drawer bottom and an upper horizontal running flange for a supporting roller mounted on the body of an article of furniture.
The invention further relates to a process for manufacturing such a drawer side wall, the side wall profile being injection molded or extruded with a continuously straight horizontal running flange of aluminum or the like.
Many drawers are injection molded, either as an integral piece of plastics material or assembled of individual structural members, i.e. two drawer side walls, a front panel, a rear wall and a bottom. In conventional drawers, the drawer side walls are provided with pull-out rails of a pull-out guide assembly which facilitates insertion and extraction of the drawer into or out of the body of the article of furniture.
Lately, there has been an increasing use of drawer side walls of metal, the running flange for the pull-out guide assembly being directly molded to such drawer side walls. Drawers of this type are advantageously of die cast or extruded aluminum.
It is also advantageous to provide the pull-out rails of a pull-out guide assembly, which are on the sides of the drawer, with a so-called run-in portion wherein, at the front end of each rail, the horizontal running flange thereof extends towards the front end of the drawer rail in an obliquely upward direction. When the roller on the side of the body comes to be within this region, the drawer is, by its own weight, automatically pressed backwards over the thus inclined portion of the running flange and is pulled into the body of the article of furniture. Even a drawer which has not been carefully closed will therefore not project from the body of the article of furniture.